“It’s always your pumpkin muffins,” Lucus said, a smile in his voice.
23 Coren
My neighbors and a load of newcomers crowded around the base of the hill, talking and gesturing. Most had circles under their eyes and shirts buttoned wrong. They were obviously stressed and coming to grips with this new reality we’d shown them. But Ami was handing out pumpkin muffins and what might have been cinnamon cookies, so hopefully they’d at least have full stomachs.
Holding Oliver on his shoulders, Titus lifted a hand in greeting as Lucus and Kaippa landed above the gathering, Hekla and me in their arms. The portcullis was closed behind us, and the October wind whistled in my ears. I saw the moment Titus realized who Kaippa was. He slid Oliver off his shoulders and held him tightly against his legs. Titus’s confused glare pinned my feet to the ground.
“I have to explain this,” I said. “All of it. I don’t even know where to start.”
Hekla brushed herself off even though there wasn’t any dirt on her clothing. She glanced back at Kaippa. Both were oddly quiet and couldn’t seem to stand still.
A mischievous gleam sparkled in Lucus’s eyes. “We could give the humans a little show? If they see our magic, they will surely join our side and stop this nonsensical arguing. Are you certain you don’t want me to kill that bearded human and his minions? They deserve to die for threatening you, my queen.”
A sick joy stirred in me, something I’d never want to admit feeling. “Thanks for the offer, but let’s put a pin in that. I was thinking…maybe if I gave the crowd a purpose in this fight against the curse, they’d have a focus for their emotions and not freak out as much. Plotting instead of hair pulling.”
Shuffling his wings, then bringing them in tight behind him, Lucus ran a hand through his hair and looked at me through his thick lashes. “What is your plan?”
“Fae can do the spell with Hekla’s blood.”
“Yes.”
“What about humans? Can they cast the spell with Hekla’s shifter blood?”
“Yes.”
“Oh! I remember you said that’s what led to our idea of witches, when humans used shapeshifter blood to cast spells.”
“Exactly.”
Hekla eyed the crowd, then pointed. “What’s that?”
A haze of black smoke twisted up from the ground. Raven tugged her dog away, but instead of barking like he usually did, he whined and lowered his belly to the street. Heads turned to see, and the crowd backed away.
“We have a visitor.” Lucus stepped forward, eyes tight with concern.
Oh, hell. What was this about?
Kaippa, who had been unusually silent, sucked a breath. “Please tell me that thing is with us, not against us. I’ve heard stories…”
The smoke dissipated to show a unicorn as black as pitch. The creature raised its head and focused red eyes on me. Greetings, Yew Queen, he said into my mind.
Then he galloped up the hill amid the crowd’s shrieks and Oliver’s laugh of delight.
“You’re here,” I said lamely.
Indeed. I thought perhaps you needed some help. The Mage Duke has disappeared.
Hekla’s fingers strayed to the dark unicorn’s mane. “What’s he saying?” She was probably remembering her time jousting on his back in the unseelie kingdom.
“The Mage Duke is missing, and he is here to help us out.”
“See?” Raven was saying down in the gathering. “They’re freaking magic as hell.”
The unicorn turned to stand beside Lucus and me. You should do as your mate suggests and display your power to encourage them.
I elbowed Lucus. “Unicorn thinks we should do as you said and show off a little.”
Kaippa rubbed his hands together. “Not a problem.”
Hekla grabbed his arm. “Hold on, bloodsucker. Fly but don’t bite.”
Kaippa stared at her fingers and grinned, his lips a blood-red slash in his pale face. “As you wish, foxy.”
Kaippa took off into the sky, and Lucus joined him while calling up vines from the hillside and releasing swirls of bright emerald magic. I whispered to my power and brought amethyst lightning to my fingers. The magic snapped and crackled as I released it into the air above me where it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Sunlight catching the rainbow flecks in his coat, the unicorn stomped one ebony hoof and tossed his thick mane.
Hekla had closed her eyes and was shivering. Snow burst from the exposed skin on her arms, face, and neck, then swirled into a small storm. The wind pushed the snow away to show an arctic fox.
The group at the base of the hill stood with mouths open and eyes staring.
“Sorry to burst your suburban bubble, but the world isn’t quite as simple as we thought it was.” I threw my lightning from one hand to the other, then began to use the lift spell. A cloud of flashing, purple magic lifted me into the air. “That fellow there is a vampire who we are keeping on a short leash.”
Kaippa snarled my way, making the crowd gasp.
“This dude is a fae lord who is dangerous as hell but totally on your side.”
Lucus’s fingers moved to weave the vines he’d called up into a bower. Sapphire flowers popped up along the creation, bringing ooos and ahhs from the humans. It didn’t hurt that he’d released a dash of his lure. I saw more than one person below biting their lip and breathing a bit too quickly.
“Hekla here is a shapeshifter, and she is actually going to be key in our battle to slay the demon dragon. And I am a mage who can do shit like this. I have a bow that is meant to kill the beast. We are doing our damnedest to protect y’all, and we’d love to have you on our side during this war.”
Lucus and Kaippa drifted to the ground and raised their glamours as Hekla shifted back into her human form. I settled onto the muddy ground and let my lightning fade. My heart ticked like a stopwatch, and I reached out for Lucus’s hand. He took my fingers in his
